Check out our FREE Water from the Rock Sunday School Lesson. Teach kids that remembering God's mercy can cure anger. By the end of this lesson, kids will learn "When I'm angry, I will remember God's mercy for me and others." This lesson is great for every Children's Ministry, Kids Church, and Sunday School! The people of God were in the desert with no water to drink. Because they were thirsty, they were angry at Moses, and they were angry at God. Even in their anger, God loved his people and provided water in a miraculous way. And if you absolutely loved this lesson, you are going to want to take a look at our How to Train Your Emotions 4-Week Children's Ministry Curriculum. And, if you like this lesson we have over 100 more free Sunday School Lessons for Kids!

Water from the Rock Sunday School Lesson for Kids:

BOTTOM LINE:

Remembering God’s mercy can cure anger.

OBJECTIVE:

Kids will learn “When I'm angry, I will remember God's mercy for me and others.”

KEY PASSAGE:

Exodus 17:1-7, Water From the Rock

MEMORY VERSE:

“I will be glad and full of joy because of you. Most High God, I will sing the praises of your name.” Psalm 9:2 (NIrV)

SUMMARY:

The people of God were in the desert with no water to drink. Because they were thirsty, they were angry at Moses, and they were angry at God. Even in their anger, God loved his people and provided water in a miraculous way.   

SIMPLE PRAYER:

Dear God,

Thank you for loving us, even when we are angry.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

 

MEMORY VERSE

“I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:2 (NIV)

“I will be glad and full of joy because of you. Most High God, I will sing the praises of your name.” Psalm 9:2 (NIrV)

LARGE GROUP:

Divide the room into girls and boys. Have the boys read the verse aloud, and then have the girls read it aloud. Who can read the loudest?

SMALL GROUP:

Ask the kids what they think the writer was trying to say when he wrote these words. Then ask them how this verse is connected to today’s story.

 

SKIT

HOW TO TAME YOUR ANGER

ITEMS NEEDED:

None

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:

2 M or F (Characters were written as males but can be changed to females)

CHARACTERS:

Herbert - A Viking

Emotion - Herbert’s dragon-like emotions

Herbert enters with his Emotion – a person dressed like a dragon – behind him. Emotion is growling and roaring.

HERBERT: Whoa, settle down! Easy, boy. Uh, hi fellow Vikings. My name is Herbert, and this is my Emotion.

EMOTIONS: I’m ANGRY!!!!

HERBERT: Yes, today, as you can see my Emotion is feeling a bit upset.

EMOTION: I’m not a bit upset. I’m ANGRY!!!

HERBERT: It’s been a rough day to say the least.

EMOTION: The teacher gave us a pop quiz on stuff we didn’t even read!

HERBERT: Now, now, she said it wasn’t for a grade.

EMOTION: I was out first in Dodgeball, twice!!

HERBERT: Yeah, Sven got us good, didn’t he?

EMOTION: And Mom made broccoli for dinner!!!

HERBERT: Okay, that was bad.

EMOTION: I can’t stand broccoli! I’d rather eat dirt!

HERBERT: No you wouldn’t, because you remember that one time, Mom called us on that bluff and served dirt for dinner.

EMOTION: Oh yeah, I remember. That made me angry too!!

HERBERT: I’m sure all of your emotions get carried away like this from time to time.

Emotion roars again.

HERBERT: But there’s an easy way to train that Emotion.

EMOTION: No there’s not!

HERBERT: You remember that God loves you.

EMOTION: He does?

HERBERT: So what if you didn’t do well on your pop quiz. God still loves you.

EMOTION: He does?

HERBERT: God still loves you even when you go out first in Dodgeball.

EMOTION: He does?

HERBERT: And God gave you a loving mother who wants you to be healthy. That’s why she made you that gross, disgusting but nutritious vegetable that God made for you.

EMOTION: I never thought of it that way.

HERBERT: Sure you have. You just got so angry in the moment, you forgot.

EMOTION: I guess I did get carried away. I may not like broccoli, but I should still be thankful for a merciful God who loves me.

HERBERT: And we can show mercy to our Mom, right?

EMOTION: Sure we can.

HERBERT: There ya go. See? That’s a good emotion.

EMOTION: Maybe we should say we’re sorry and go eat dinner.

HERBERT: That’s a good idea.

EMOTION: Maybe Mom made dessert too, right?

HERBERT: She sure did… but it’s Coconut Cream Pie.

EMOTION: What? I don’t like coconut!!

HERBERT: Easy, buddy! Remember…

EMOTION: Oh yeah. God still loves me. And there’s popsicles in the freezer.

 

OBJECT LESSON

ITEMS NEEDED:

A leash

How many of you have a dog at home? How many of you have helped to train your dog to have good manners? It takes time, patience, and a lot of repetition to train a dog. Sometimes it also takes a good strong leash to get them under control. But if we are persistent, we can teach our dogs to listen and respond to our commands almost immediately.

Training a dog is easier than training our emotions. We can put a leash on a dog to restrain them and help them calm down, but good luck putting a leash on emotions – especially anger. But that’s no excuse to let anger go unchecked. Instead of pulling on a leash, we can pull out

scripture. We can use the memory verses we’ve learned and the Bible stories we know to remind ourselves that God loves us – even when we are angry. We can remember the mercy God has shown to us, and we can show that same mercy to others.

It’s okay to be angry. Just don’t stay angry. Remember that God loves you, and count your

blessings. There’s no quicker way to tame your anger than remembering God’s mercy!

 

LARGE GROUP GAME

ROAR LIKE A DRAGON

ITEMS NEEDED:

None

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Choose four contestants for this game. Give each contestant one chance to do their best dragon ROAR for the crowd. After everyone has had a turn, let the audience choose the winner by

applause.

 

VARIATION:

For younger kids, you can make the game more fun by bringing in dragon costume pieces for them to wear.

 

WHAT’S THE POINT?  

We can tame our fire breathing anger by remembering God’s love and mercy.

 

 

LARGE GROUP LESSON

BOTTOM LINE:

Remembering God’s mercy can cure anger.

OBJECTIVE:

Kids will learn “When I'm angry, I will remember God's mercy for me and others.”

KEY PASSAGE:

Exodus 17:1-7, Water From the Rock

INTRO:

How many of you love the How to Train Your Dragon stories? Who has seen all the movies? Who has read all the books? Cressida Cowell created a wonderful world in her books, a magical place where Vikings and dragons learn to live together, all thanks to the courage and creativity of a boy named Hiccup. Rather than seeing dragons as enemies, Hiccup sees them as potential

allies. He discovers that dragons can be trained, and he shares what he learns with everyone.

 

As exciting as these books are, and as inspiring as Hiccup’s story may be, I wonder how many of you today would actually want to train a dragon. If you were given the opportunity to train a

thirty-foot long, two headed, flying, fire-breathing dragon with huge, sharp teeth and long, pointy talons, who would be brave enough to try it? Anyone?

 

For all those who did not just raise your hands, you can rest easy. There are no dragons in the world of today. But God has a challenge for all of us that is very similar. God wants us to get a handle on something that can be just as wild and untamed as a dragon – our emotions.

 

Since the time you were very little, you’ve all experienced emotions – happiness, sadness, anger, fear, you name it. You didn’t know what they were at first, and you had no way to tame them on your own. The challenge to tame emotions continues into childhood, and sad to say, adulthood. Emotions are a challenge at any age. There’s no stopping them, but with God’s help, we can learn to "tame" them.

 

We’re going to start with the one emotion that most makes us want to belch fire like a dragon – anger. Anger is one of the hardest emotions to predict or to control. Anger happens when we feel wronged, disappointed, let down, or insulted. If we can’t get a handle on anger, we can get in some serious trouble.

 

In today’s scripture we’ll read about a time when God’s chosen people Israel got angry with God. We’re going to see that not only does God love us, even when we’re angry, but there’s

really never any reason to let anger stick around for long.

READ EXODUS 17:1-7

MAIN POINT:

The people of Israel were angry. What’s more, they were acting pretty ungrateful. God had saved them from being slaves in Egypt. He was taking them to a new land filled with milk and honey that would be their new home. They were on their way to freedom, but instead of counting their blessings, all they could do is whine and cry, "We’re thirsty!"

 

I don’t know what the Israelites were thinking. Did they really believe the God who saved them from Egypt would let them die of thirst in the wilderness? God could have punished them, but God showed mercy to His people. He gave them what they needed – something He would have given if they’d simply asked!

 

God loves us even when we get emotional. We can be mad at our friends, our parents, our

circumstances, and even God. It does not matter. God still loves us, and when we pause to

remember all the ways God has shown us mercy, we can quickly tame that emotion of anger!

 

DRIVE IT HOME:

When we stop and think of all God has done for us, we can’t stay angry for long. We can’t say, "It’s not fair!" because God has given us forgiveness for our sins, something we could never earn for ourselves. We can’t say, "I never get this," or "Why can’t I have this?" because no matter how little we think we have, God has given us so much more than we deserve. God was merciful to us when we were lost sinners, and He is merciful even when we get angry with Him!

 

Some people say when you feel angry, you should take a pause and count to ten. I think we can go one better. The next time someone or something makes you angry, take a pause and count ten ways God has been good to you. Think about all the blessings God has given you. Your health. Your friends. Your family. Your toys. Your talents. Your church. Very quickly, your thoughts will turn from what you don’t have to all you do have.

 

Remembering the mercy God has shown you will help you to let go of hurt feelings toward

others. You can’t stay angry at someone else when you remember how God has blessed you. God wants to show mercy to everyone, even those who have wronged you, and God can help you show mercy to them, too.

 

Anger is a difficult emotion to control, but if you can develop a habit of counting your blessings as a child, you’ll have a much better grip on anger as an adult. Remember that God loves you, even when you are angry. Remember His mercy for you and others.

CLOSE WITH A SIMPLE PRAYER:

Dear God,

Thank you for loving us, even when we are angry.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (K-2ND)

ICEBREAKER:

Do you think dragons were ever real?

MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:

Psalm 9:2

Ask the kids what they think the writer was trying to say when he wrote these words. Then ask them how this verse is connected to today’s story.

SMALL GROUP GAME/ACTIVITY:

Go around the group, introduce yourselves, and have each person describe what their dragon would be like if they had a dragon.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Read Exodus 17:1-7

Why were the Israelites angry?

Who were they angry with?

What did God say when the people were angry?

What should we do when we are angry?

What are some ways God has blessed us and shown us mercy?

SIMPLE PRAYER:

Dear God,

Help us to remember our blessings when we are angry.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

 

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (3RD-5TH)

ICEBREAKER:

Do you think dragons were ever real?

MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:

Psalm 9:2

Ask the kids what they think the writer was trying to say when he wrote these words. Then ask them how this verse is connected to today’s story.

SMALL GROUP GAME/ACTIVITY:

Go around the group, introduce yourselves, and have each person describe what their dragon would be like if they had a dragon.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Read Exodus 17:1-7

Why were the Israelites angry?

How did God respond to their anger?

What does mercy mean?

What are some ways God has shown us mercy?

Why should we be merciful to others when we are angry with them?

SIMPLE PRAYER:

Dear God,

Help us to remember our blessings when we are angry.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

 

For your convenience, you can also download the entire PDF version of this Water from the Rock Children's Ministry Lesson (just click the link). 

Here's a video from Gracelink that you might find helpful to go along with your Sunday School Lesson on Water from the Rock.

Take a look at the links below for other ideas for teaching a Water from the Rock Sunday School Lesson: 

 

Water from a Rock - Children's Sermons from Sermons4Kids.com

 

 

Water From a Rock? - GraceLink

 

 

Water from the Rock and Manna from Heaven Sunday School Lesson

 

 

Craft for Water from the Rock - Bible Crafts and Activities - Pinterest